Honor Flight: Love and War

It’s been a long time since the Korean War came to an end. Almost as long as Robert and Barbara Powers have been married. The two served in the Navy during the Korean War, but they never made it to Korea. They met each other in Pensacola, Fla. while they were waiting to ship out.

Barbara Powers was 20 years old when she enlisted in the Navy. She already had six months of nurse training.

“I had to go into boot camp first,” Barbara says. “From there I wanted to go to service school. I already had nursing training before for the Hospital Corps. I had to go to school there for 20 weeks, and then when I got out, I was stationed in Pensacola Hospital.”

Robert Powers was working at the same hospital as a Hospital Corpsman.  They both worked night shifts and soon met each other and started dating.

“We had our own private beach at the hospital,” Robert Powers says. “We went down to the beach, spent the day. So at night when we all lined up, the only two people with a sunburn were Barbara and I. So that’s how we got started.”

The couple quickly learned that they were going to be shipped out to different places. Barbara was to set sail for Europe, while Robert was to ship out to Great Lakes for training. They ended up getting married as a way for them to not be separated.

“I miss the Navy in some respects, but it was just not set up so that we could spend any more time in it,” Robert says.

Last month, the Robert and Barbara both took part in the Central Valley Honor Flight with 65 other World War II and Korean War veterans. They visited Washington, D.C. and the war memorials built in their honor.

They reflected on their time in the Navy and reminisced about the time they spent together while stationed in Pensacola.

“ It was a change in our life, as far as what we want to do. We had a baby on the way. We were out of the service. We were going to go back school, and it was kind of fun. It was a lot of fun to grow up and have children,” Robert says.